Pangea: means "all lands" or that all continents were together continental drift: moving of the continents apart fossil: a trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock
Outline
Introduction
Africa and South America look like jigsaw puzzle pieces that could fit together
The Theory of Continental Drift
1910 Alfred Wegner
hypothesis that was that the continents were once combined together and made up a super continent called Pangaea
he thought this happened over 300 million years ago
he wrote a book called The Origin of Continents and Oceans published in 1915
Evidence from Landforms
Mountains lined up in south Africa and Argentina
European coal fields were similar to the ones in North America
Evidence from Fossils
found same reptile fossils and same plant fossils such as ferns around the world
Evidence from Climate
Current places in the world have very different climate
hot places had rock scratches that could only have been made by glaciers
Scientists Reject Wegner's Theory
Wegner didn't have a good reason why the continental drift happened or separated
Table of Contents
1.3 Drifting Continents
Vocabulary
Pangea: means "all lands" or that all continents were together
continental drift: moving of the continents apart
fossil: a trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock
Outline
Introduction
The Theory of Continental Drift
Evidence from Landforms
Evidence from Fossils
Evidence from Climate
Scientists Reject Wegner's Theory
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